Areas Of Strength
Youth and balance helped guide the Los Angeles Lakers through a transition season and will catapult them into this offseason. The core of the group is all under 24: Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and Julius Randle (who’s a restricted free agent). Lakers president Magic Johnson made it a priority to go hard with player development in order to give the Lakers a chance to grow organically and uniformly. The question now becomes whether the Lakers want to continue to add to this youth core through the draft again, or if it’s time to go for broke and sign or trade for veteran help.

Needs Work
The Lakers lack a big scorer, yet Kuzma and Ingram appear headed in that direction. Size is an issue and the Lakers must address the center position soon if they plan to use a bigger lineup in their system. Brook Lopez fell out of favor during the season, mainly because he’s a perimeter 7-footer who never rebounded well throughout his career. Plus, he’s a free agent. The Lakers also dealt away Larry Nance Jr. at midseason, who at 6-foot-7 served as their only rim protector. Therefore, someone who can serve as an imposing presence in the paint would help.

Two Stats That Matter5.0 -- The Lakers were the most improved defensive team in the league, allowing 5.0 fewer points per 100 possessions (105.6) than they did in the 2016-17 season (110.6).

The Way To Go
The Lakers aren’t in a position to be picky with the 25th pick. At that stage of the Draft, they’ll choose the best available player. It gets real interesting if a point guard is that player. Suppose Aaron Holiday of the famous Holiday family, who grew up in Southern California and played at UCLA is still on the board? He’d be hard to pass up even if the Lakers remain high on Ball. Donte Divincenzo of Villanova is another possibility.